Blurb: Nobel laureate Doris Lessing’s classic novel of the pivotal summer in one woman’s life is a brilliant excursion into the terrifying gulf between youth and old age.

As the summer begins, Kate Brown—attractive, intelligent, forty-five, happily married, with a house in the London suburbs and three grown children—has no reason to expect that anything will change. But by summer’s end the woman she was—living behind a protective camouflage of feminine charm and caring—no longer exists. The Summer Before the Dark takes us along on Kate’s journey: from London to Turkey to Spain, from husband to lover to madness, on the road to a frightening new independence and a confrontation with herself that lets her finally and truly come of age.

***

Teaser: But the fact was that she, this kingpin, was to be at a loose end from June to late September. With not so much as a room of her own. A very curious feeling that was, as if a warm covering had been stripped off her, as if she were an animal being flayed. p. 23

***

That kind of feeling is most certainly central to what happens to our character throughout this pivotal summer.

What have you found in your chosen books? I hope you’ll stop in and share.

Nice. Every once in a while I catch a glimpse of what I miss the most from adult literature – and this would be one of those. This seems like my kind of literature – the dissolution into madness, the darkness, and the radiance in the writing. Enjoy your book!

I love this kind of book, and while I also enjoy the lighter fare from time to time, I always come back to the tried-and-true authors of my favorite adult fiction. Thanks for stopping by, Myragarcesbacsal.